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Pastor Meghan Mayer, of the Embassy Church in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, describes how her church lost property exempt status,
“The city worked well with us. They recognized that we were a church and … a, help to the community. … They always exempted us as a church [from property tax], except for a portion of the building that was used for commercial space.
And so we had walked through with them quite a few times, actually, and showed them the different areas, the parts that were being used, the church and the parts that were being rented out… Then there is a few
portions in the building that are always commercial. They’re being rented out as commercial. We don’t use them as the church. And so that was the taxed portion of the building.
And then about two years ago, maybe two and a half, we got a new building city tax assessor and they came to assess the building and we did the walkthrough we showed them everything that we normally do and provided them information on our church how our church operates…. It just came back that our church was not tax exempt at all.
And they had basically said, we were not a church at all. We didn’t function like a church. We were a commercial, a hundred percent, a commercial building.”
This matter is now in the courts. Lawyer Philip Fourie describes the importance of this case and why it can be precedent setting.
Property tax exemptions for houses of worship have a long history rooted in the country’s tradition of recognizing the social and community roles played by religious institutions. Religious communities bring much public good through various social services and community activities they provide. Property tax is primarily a provincial and municipal responsibility in Canada. Each province has its laws and regulations governing property taxes, including exemptions for religious institutions. Most provinces have legislation that grants tax-exempt status to properties used for religious purposes.
In recent years critics argue this long-term practice should end due to the changing societal values and the financial needs of municipalities.
CARDUS, an Ottawa think tank, measured the socio-economic benefit that a religious congregation contributes to its local community, known as the “halo effect”
CARDUS’ most recent research suggests that for every dollar that a congregation spends, the local community receives an average of $3.39 in economic benefit. The halo effect for Canada as a whole is currently estimated to be $18.2 billion.
Although religious congregations do not exist for the purpose of benefiting the economy, their economic benefit is in fact significant. Furthermore, if governments or other agencies had to replace the programs and services that congregations provide to their local communities, the cost would be immense. Visit haloproject.ca.
Support The Embassy Church Property Tax Litigation Here:
To give to help support Embassy Church’s legal challenge to its loss of property tax exempt status in the municipality of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan you may give via e-transfer: https://embassychurch.ca/give/interac-e-transfer/ [be sure to write in the MEMO – “Tax Court Case”]
To keep up to date on the latest developments of the case write an email to admin@embassychurch.ca and ask to be put on the email list for the property tax court case.
Please note the views expressed by the individual(s) in this video are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views or principles of the First Freedoms Foundation.
